Chicago Politics

Chicago Sky Foundation Announcement 7.21.26

Description

Mayor Brandon Johnson attends the Chicago Sky Foundation Announcement.

Transcript

1:18 Oh, this is a lot better. Good morning, everybody. Good morning. You're not too cool. Come on, everyone. Good morning. Good morning. Great. It's so great to have everyone here in Foster Park for our community initiative called Line Them Up. So let's give all ourselves an applause for being here. All the young ladies from around the neighborhood, I'm glad you all are here. I want to welcome all of you here for our kickoff event for the WNBA All-Star Weekend.

1:53 Yes. We're hosting here in Chicago for the second time. And why this is fitting is that, you know, Chicago's a basketball town, right? Yes. And the way we're going to make sure everyone knows we're here and making an impact is through community. So the three-point line here, as you see, the fire orange three-point line is the WNBA professional three-point line. This is where all the WNBA players make their buckets when they're on the court. And this is where every single one of you can see yourself in the game.

2:25 And by the way, you just don't see yourself in the game. You all are leaders not just on the court. You're also leaders in the classroom, leaders in the boardroom eventually, leaders of companies, institutions, and maybe even the country. So please put your hands together and give yourselves an applause for this. And one of the special moments that we have today is to really share this moment that we're doing for the community, for the WNBA All-Star Weekend, with Mayor Brandon Johnson.

2:58 So I'd like to call him up. Yes, yes. Thank you so much. Well, what's going on? Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Thank you, Nadia, for that introduction. And I am pleased to welcome all of our young athletes and families and community partners to Foster Park today. Thank you all for helping to celebrate the WNBA All-Star Weekend. So I want to give a special thanks to our key partners, the Chicago All-Star 2026 Host Committee,

3:35 the Chicago Sky, the Chicago Sky Foundation, the Chicago Park District, to our Chicago Public Schools. Of course, Amazon is here today and the Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation. Let's give it up for all of our partners. Thank you for making these investments and making today such a joyful day. Chicago believes that our young people deserve safe, welcoming spaces, not just for the summer, but year-round. To play, to build community, and to build their future.

4:07 When we invest in safe and meaningful spaces for our young people, we build safer and more affordable communities for all young people and families to thrive. And so I'm grateful to the 2026 Host Committee, the WNBA, and all of our partners who share our belief in young people and are helping us to invest in the next generation of young women through the events that will take place this weekend. The Lynam Initiative, which paints the WNBA's fire orange three-point line on public basketball courts across the nation, sends a message that women and girls belong in the game and in every space.

4:45 This redesigned basketball court at Foster Park is a reminder to Chicago's young girls that we see them, that we value them, and that their talents matter. The All-Star Weekend is a powerful opportunity for young girls to see the themselves represented in professional sports, and I want to make sure that as many of Chicago's young people as possible, I want them to engage in this weekend's programming. And so that is why I am thrilled to announce that the Chicago Sky Foundation and my administration, we will

5:18 collectively give out 500 free tickets to young people for this year's WNBA Skills Challenge. 500 young Chicagoans will have the chance to see some of the best players in the WNBA put their skills to test and hopefully be inspired by their excellence on and off the court. Our young people deserve to experience the events that make Chicago a world-class city. And so I'm grateful to the Chicago Sky Foundation for helping to make this possible.

5:51 Thank you all again to all of our partners who have made this All-Star Weekend what I'm predicting, the best WNBA All-Star Weekend ever and the greatest, most amazing city in the world, the city of Chicago. God bless you all. Wow. I can't even say thank you enough for doing this for the kids that we have in the city and to have them have access to the very events that we're doing here for the WNBA All-Star Weekend.

6:26 So I also would like to introduce Ian Conyers, who is from one of our closest and relatively new corporate partners who helped make all of this possible. Ian from Amazon, who's been wonderful with us at the Sky. All right. Are you ready to line them up? Let's go. I'm Ian. I'm proud to be here on behalf of Amazon and so excited to continue the Chicago tradition led by the great mayor to be able to invest in our community all around the city.

6:57 creating special places for you to come together, recreate, learn and grow with your friends, and continue on your journey. We're so excited to be partnering with the Chicago Sky Foundation, the Parks District, to create these beautiful places for you to be able to come and play. And I know each and every one of you are going to be hitting some threes from that brand new line. And so on behalf of Amazon from our 30,000 across the state and so many living and working right here in the city of Chicago, I'll bring a few of my

7:28 colleagues up for a special presentation if you could join me. Amazon is excited to present the Chicago Foundation with $75,000 to support parks and recreation across the city of Chicago. Thank you so much. So on behalf of Amazon we're excited to present this to the Chicago sky and make a great all-star weekend for the

7:58 WNBA in Chicago so with that I think we can continue on with the basketball clinics that we have here with all the young ladies and everyone let's just you

8:32 know keep the music going so we can get the vibes high we actually we wait hold hold on we have someone who is one of our most esteemed guests please carlos please come introduce yourself good morning how's everybody doing today so my name is carlos ramirez rosa and i have the privilege of serving as the general superintendent and ceo of the chicago park district the best park district in the entire united states of america

9:05 and our park district just got better thanks to this partnership with the wnba because we're so excited to debut that wnba fire orange three-point line here at foster park let's give it up our chicago park district courts are where legends are made and with this addition we're going to see even more homegrown greatest of all time born right here and made right here in our chicago parks So basketball courts have a storied and proud history in our parks and in our communities

9:38 For more than 90 years, the Park District has offered patrons the opportunity To put their abilities to the test on courts in parks citywide We hope that our ongoing commitment to this sport serves as an inspiration to our youth and to our partners Driving today's collaborative efforts to enhance our local communities Just this spring, we joined the Chicago Skies at Dawes Park to highlight spaces like these that function as building blocks for greatness. And today, you all are taking the first steps to becoming all-stars.

10:09 Is that right? Are there future all-stars here with us right now? I don't believe you. Are there future all-stars with us right now? Awesome. So we want to thank all of our wonderful partners. We also want to give a special shout-out to Mayor Brandon Johnson for the mayor's unwavering support for our parks. It's because of him that we're able to continue to offer accessible and equitable spaces for recreation to all of Chicago. So we are so excited to kick off this incredible week.

10:40 And with that, I'll turn it back to Nadia. And so now that we couldn't clearly we could not do this without the Chicago Parks District. Thank you. And by the end of this weekend, we would have done 15 parks with the Fire Orange Red Line. And hopefully by the end of the year, the goal is to get 30 parks. that commemorates the 30th anniversary of the WNBA. So we're doing it here first in Chicago with the people and community partners that matter, and more importantly, all of you, the young women that are here, ready to go and shoot your first three-point bucket from the orange line.

11:13 So let's go!

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